The former Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Brom defender joined the Timbers as a designated player in July last year and made an immediate impact in Major League Soccer by scoring twice and picking up one assist in 15 appearances.

He helped fix Portland’s defensive woes by shoring up the backline halfway through the season and the Timbers only narrowly missed out on the playoffs come the end of the regular season.

A move back to England will keep Ridgewell sharp and ready for the new season, but it will mean that he misses the start of preseason training with the Timbers as well as the first two preseason games.

It will also mean that he will be unable to build up a solid partnership with new signing Nat Borchers until the final two weeks of preseason training.

The Timbers kickoff the new season against Real Salt Lake on March 7 and will hope the partnership of Ridgewell and Borchers can see them challenge for the MLS Cup in 2015.